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Experimental tests of truncated diffusion in fault damage zones
Author(s) -
Suzuki Anna,
Hashida Toshiyuki,
Li Kewen,
Horne Roland N.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1002/2016wr019017
Subject(s) - tracer , aquifer , fick's laws of diffusion , exponential function , normal fault , fault (geology) , power law , permeability (electromagnetism) , diffusion , geology , anomalous diffusion , mechanics , flow (mathematics) , exponential decay , geotechnical engineering , groundwater , soil science , mathematics , thermodynamics , physics , chemistry , seismology , innovation diffusion , statistics , mathematical analysis , membrane , knowledge management , computer science , biochemistry , nuclear physics
Fault zones affect the flow paths of fluids in groundwater aquifers and geological reservoirs. Fault‐related fracture damage decreases to background levels with increasing distance from the fault core according to a power law. This study investigated mass transport in such a fault‐related structure using nonlocal models. A column flow experiment is conducted to create a permeability distribution that varies with distance from a main conduit. The experimental tracer response curve is preasymptotic and implies subdiffusive transport, which is slower than the normal Fickian diffusion. If the surrounding area is a finite domain, an upper truncated behavior in tracer response (i.e., exponential decline at late times) is observed. The tempered anomalous diffusion (TAD) model captures the transition from subdiffusive to Fickian transport, which is characterized by a smooth transition from power‐law to an exponential decline in the late‐time breakthrough curves.